Jonathan Finkelman was surrounded by family and friends Thursday — just as he was in life.

Hundreds attended his funeral, many of them teenagers, exchanging smileless greetings, silent embraces and tears.

They spilled out from beneath a green tent at Beth Yeshurun's synagogue cemetery where his parents and brothers sat in the front row. Before them, Finkelman lay enclosed in a plain pine coffin adorned with a Star of David.

He was 16.

They gathered to mark Finkelman's death from a gunshot Tuesday night in an incident that police described as a drug deal gone bad.

But in a eulogy, Rabbi David Rosen of Congregation Beth Yeshurun called on them to remember Finkelman not as he died. "For what happened cannot be undone," he said. "Rather, our task is to remember Jonathan as he was in life, in health; to remember Jonathan as the beautiful child that he was."

In Rosen's eulogy and in remarks by his 20-year-old brother, Joshua, Jonathan Finkelman was remembered as a warm and charming teen with an easy smile and ability to talk to anyone, young or old.

"Everyone, it seems, liked Jonathan," Rosen said. "It was not something he consciously worked on, but rather something that just happened."

A junior at Bellaire High School, Finkelman was on the junior varsity football team. He had studied his Jewish faith at an Orthodox yeshiva in New Jersey and had attended Jewish camps and schools, Rosen said.

His brother was quick with a helping hand and a kind gesture, Joshua Finkelman said.

He also characterized his brother as uninhibited, "unconventionally brave, fearless and receptive."

"It's a terrible thing to realize that perhaps it was the very same characteristics that made him so wonderful, so unique, so utterly special in life that may have also made him much too susceptible for death," Joshua Finkelman said.

Companion in fair condition

According to police, Finkelman was shot Tuesday at Godwin Park in Meyerland after a drug deal turned violent. Warren Payne, 15, a Bellaire freshman, was also shot in the stomach as he ran from the incident.

Dianne Johnson, who represents Bellaire on the Houston Independent School District's board, described the Godwin incident as a terrible tragedy "and such a waste of human potential."

"It doesn't matter what high school, or what part of town, or what racial or ethnic group, every school in Houston, whether public or private or rich or poor, has stunning examples of kids that fail to make good decisions," she said.

The slayings have hit the Bellaire and Meyerland communities hard.

'It's time for us to wake up'

"We used to think this was a nice, quiet community and that our kids weren't involved in things like that, but they are," said Linda Meason, whose daughter is a Bellaire freshman. "It's time for us to wake up and realize that we're a public school."

Bellaire senior Joey Mendoza was friends with all three victims. He played football with Finkelman. "The first time I saw him play, he picked up a fumble, broke three tackles, and ran it in from 90 yards out," Mendoza said.

He used to do homework with Hamilton each morning before school started.

"Desmond was the type of guy who was never mad at anyone. All he wanted to do was graduate, listen to his music and hang out with his friends," Mendoza said.

Since the slayings, Mendoza has grown closer to his family, he said.

"I know a lot of people who have gotten over their arguments with family and friends because they realized life is too precious to be fighting with someone," he said. "I make sure I tell my mom and dad I love them before I go out."